Emotions for the RailCats zigged and zagged Sunday.
A day that began with Greg Tagert announced as the American Association Manager of the Year ended with his team eliminated from postseason contention.
The RailCats won 5-2 over Joplin at the Steel Yard, a game in which Tagert and leadoff hitter Chase Harris both were ejected in the first inning. Charle Rosario earned the win with eight stellar innings two days after the death of his grandmother.
But Sioux City clinched the Central Division title with a 10-4 win at Texas, a game that ended moments after the RailCats put away their victory.
The Explorers (53-46) lead the RailCats (52-47) by one game with Monday’s season finale remaining, and own the tiebreaker. The two teams split the season series at 5-5, but Sioux City has a better winning percentage in the division (17-11 for .607) than the RailCats (19-13 for .594).
“It’s a tough one,” Tagert said. “If you do this long enough, there’s going to be so much more disappointment than euphoria — that’s only going to happen once in a while. But what makes this so tough to swallow is that we put ourselves right in the mix, right there.”
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Rosario (11-4) allowed two runs on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 3.13. Tagert said the team gave Rosario its “blessing” to fly home to the Dominican Republic on Saturday, or even to have missed the previous series at Sioux Falls.
But the 28-year-old right-hander declined.
“I knew it was going to happen one day,” Rosario said. “I told them I had to stay here and finish the year.
“It was the same preparation, the same approach, I didn’t change anything because she passed away. That’s life, you can’t control it. You have to concentrate 100 percent on what you do. It’s tough, but you have to be strong and do your job.”
Rosario ended his season with a franchise-record 155 1/3 innings pitched, passing Josh Habel’s 155 from 2007. He had a franchise-record four complete games this season, tying the career mark.
“He was exceptional under any circumstances, vintage Charle,” Tagert said.
“You can’t say enough about the season he’s had and what he’s meant to this ballclub the last two seasons. I’ve told anybody who would listen, he’s capable of going to Triple A. It sounds biased because I’m always going to recommend one of our guys, but there’s nobody better in this league than Charle to be able to do that.”
Tagert was named manager of the year for the third time in his 12 seasons with the RailCats, his first award since the franchise joined the American Association. He won the Northern League’s version in 2007 and 2009.
The RailCats went 45-55 last season, the first time in Tagert’s 21-year career one of his teams finished below .500. They rebounded this season to contend until the second-to-last day.
But Tagert had a hollow feeling with the RailCats missing the playoffs for the third straight season since their championship in 2013.
“The level of disappointment is strong,” Tagert said. “I don’t know what we would’ve done in the postseason because we’re so unpredictable, but that would’ve made it all the more fun. We might’ve been overwhelmed with the environment in either Wichita or St. Paul, two tough places, two experienced ballclubs.
“We would’ve gone with Travis McGee in Game 1 and Taylor Black in Game 2. No offense to those guys, but that’s not the way you would’ve drawn it up. But with what Black and McGee have done over these last few weeks, who knows? The disappointment is going to sit with me the entire offseason.”
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Up next: Joplin (Harrison Lee 0-1) at RailCats (Richard Castillo 7-7), 1:10 p.m. Monday, WEFM-FM 95.9.